Homelessness Australia welcomes the recent focus on housing stress and in particular the attention paid to the rising cost of renting.  We know that this has led to a distressing increase in the number of people seeking emergency accomodation, and in particular the number of families experiencing homelessness. 

While policies that address housing stress are welcome and necessary, a satisfactory response to homelessness must also include:   

• Support for early intervention programs that catch people one step away from homelessness and help them to resolve their situation;
• Adequate funding for crisis accomodation services. This means at least a 30% increase in funds to the overstressed national homelessness support system, which is currently forced to turn away half of all people requesting accommodation each night;
• Support for sustainable pathways out of homeless. This includes a commitment to increasing social and public housing stock through a rejuvenated Commonwealth-State Housing Agreement; and
• Strategies to address domestic violence - the single largest cause of homelessness and the most common reason women and children become homeless.